Despite what most people think, LinkedIn is not just for job searches. If you know how to take advantage of it, this popular networking platform can be an extremely powerful tool to build and promote your small business.

Just consider these stats:

• LinkedIn has 467 million users
• 44% of them earn more than £55K in a year
• 71% of professionals feel that LinkedIn is a credible source for professional content.

So if you’re looking to build your business’s presence as a though leader in your specific industry, to expand your reach and grow your revenue, here’s how to use LinkedIn in your marketing mix.

Create a proper company page

Unless you’re a freelancer, in which case a personal LinkedIn page will do, you’ll need to create a company page for your business. LinkedIn Small Business is a great starting point, as is their article on creating a company page where you can just follow the steps and advice to set up your business page.

Our top tips?

• Make sure your company page has all the required information, including contact details, a description of your business, and branded images like your logo and a personalised banner.
• Keep your company page updated and consistent with the rest of your brand. This means that your message as well as visuals and imagery that you use on your LinkedIn page should match the rest of your company. So, for example, if your website and Twitter have a green colour scheme, don’t go setting up your LinkedIn page with a purple colour scheme.

Use video and presentations

A great thing you can do to stick out is to display videos from YouTube and presentations from SlideShare directly on your page like in this example:

While a video might sound like a big chore, it’ll not only help you stand out from the crowd but it can also make a bigger impact on those who are looking to learn more about you and what you do.

So why not try to create and display a video bio on your LinkedIn page where you tell people who you are and how you can help them? If you need some help getting started with small business video marketing, check out this guide.

Another thing you can do is to embed SlideShare presentations on your LinkedIn business page. This is a great way to share interesting stats and information about your business and offering, or to delve into a topic where you have expertise. If you don’t know much about creating a first-rate SlideShare, you might want to check out these seven ways to use SlideShare for your business.

Post valuable content

It may seem obvious but you’d be surprised how many professionals and businesses use LinkedIn without offering anything of value on the platform.

So if you want your business to be relevant on LinkedIn, you need to regularly post high quality content that your audience is interested in reading. Think content that can inspire, motivate and help solve problems.

Also, since you want people to engage with the content you post, try asking questions or prompting members to engage.

Providing valuable content and information is by far the most effective way to increase your following, your number of potential leads, as well as your authority within your niche.

Add comments

Sharing content is great, but that’s just the starting point. When you add comments and express why you think a particular piece of content matters, you start to establish your opinion and thought-leadership.

So whether you don’t agree with a point of view but still find it interesting, or you have something extra to add to it, don’t hesitate to speak up. Adding your opinion can help draw additional comments, which can then raise your profile across LinkedIn.

Get active in groups related to your business

Another fantastic way to increase your visibility and build your reputation is to get involved in LinkedIn groups related to your business.

Now, try to avoid joining too many groups if you’re limited on time. The goal here isn’t to join tens of groups but to connect, network, and contribute value. So unless you have a large amount of time to devote to interacting with dozens of LinkedIn groups, only join a few active ones that can help you achieve your goals.

By interacting with people, and sharing valuable content, you can build your authority as an expert and influencer in your niche. With that trust built, you can then take advantage of one of the best parts of Groups: the ability to message potential customers you aren’t connected with, and engage with them further.

But what if there aren’t any relevant or active groups you can join? Then simply follow these steps to create your own LinkedIn group.

Here are few types of groups you could start:

• A networking group for those in your occupation or profession: e.g. real estate agents, event planners, career coach
• A location-basedindustry group: e.g. career coach in London
• A specific industry-related topic: e.g. career or business tips for wannabe entrepreneurs

Consider sponsored updates

If you have the budget and want to make sure your target audience sees your content, you can try investing in sponsored updates. You can set a budget and define your audience to get your content in front of the right people quickly.

If you want to try sponsored updates but want to learn more about how they work, this article explains how to get started with sponsored content on LinkedIn.

Don’t forget about LinkedIn analytics

LinkedIn has its own analytics for business pages where you can find useful stats, from how many people are reading your posts and how often they’re engaging to how many visitors your page is getting overall.

This data is critical as it helps you determine whether people enjoy your content and updates, or whether you need to make changes in your strategy.

Wrapping up

LinkedIn is a great tool for connecting with other professionals and growing your business at the same time. Even if you’re not sure it can work for you, it’s worth a tour to check out how your competitors or others in your industry are using it to build connections and increase their visibility online.

If you do decide to try it, we hope the tips and advice above will help you to promote and grow your business through LinkedIn.